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Power

Power is where a media wall runs out of room first. Four pages: what a stated joule rating covers, how many sockets the wall actually needs, where a cord may and may not go, and the short list of things that never share a strip.

In this section

  • Surge Joules

    What the joule figure claims, what it never covers, and why a strip without one is called a strip here.

  • Outlet Planning

    How many AC sockets and USB ports the wall needs, and how long the cord to the outlet has to be.

  • Cord Routing

    Where a mains cord may run, where it may not, and the point at which the route becomes an electrician job.

  • What Not to Plug In

    The short list: no strip into a strip, no heating appliance, no motor, and the signs that mean stop now.

Hard rules

These are gathered from the pages below. They do not have exceptions for small rooms, short runs, or one evening.

Stop

Never plug a power strip or surge protector into another power strip, surge protector, or extension cord.

Stop

Do not run a power cord under a rug or carpet, across a doorway, or through a wall, floor, or ceiling. A factory power cord is built to sit in the open where it can be seen and replaced.

Stop

Do not put a mains power cable in the same wall cavity as a signal cable. If your plan needs power inside the wall, stop and hire an electrician.

Stop

Never plug a space heater, kettle, iron, hot plate, or any other heating appliance into a power strip, surge protector, or extension cord. Heating appliances go directly into a wall outlet.

Stop

Unplug at the wall and stop using anything that is warm, discolored, buzzing, loose in its socket, or smells of burning. If the wall outlet itself is warm or scorched, call an electrician.

The parts page

Strips are compared on the one number their listings publish, and the ones that publish nothing are kept off the comparison entirely: Power Strips.